Cooler.



No. 781,854. PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905.

. R. THOMAS.

COOLER.

APPLICATION FILED MAE.16,1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Fig. 2

Patented February 7, 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT @EEIQE.

RICHARD THOMAS, OF BAYONNE, NE JERSEY.

COOLER.

SPECIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 781,854, dated February 7, 1905.

Application filed March 16, 1904. Serial No. 198,348.

To a]! whom it may concern.-

.Be it known that 'I, RICHARD Tluorms, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Bayonne, county of Hudson, and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Cooler, of which the following is a specification.

The apparatus that I am about to describe may be employed for cooling fluid of various kinds, but is especially adapted for cooling the heavier oils resulting from petroleum distillation preparatory to filtration for separating the wax from the lubricating-oil constituents thereof.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of an apparatus containing my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with the cover removed. Figs. 3 and 4 are details.

1, 2, 3, l, 5, and 6 represent a series of superposed hollow plates through which cold brine or other refrigerant fluid circulates from the supply-phae 7 to the escape-pipe 8 by way of the connecting-pipes 9, 1O, 11, 12, and 13.

ll is a ring on the top of the plate 1, and l6 1T 18 19 represent a series of rings by which the various members of the series of plates are separated from each other. The several plates and rings are supplied with adjacent flanges, such as 20 and 21 of-Fig. 3, whereby they are bolted together by the bolt 22.

23 is a cover provided with a downwardlyextending boss 24.

25 is a base provided with an upwardly-extending boss 26 and with a bottom outlet 27.

28 represents legs upon which the base is supported.

29 3O 31 32 34 represent a series of oblong holes extending through the various plates and forming a continuous passage from the chamber to the chamber 7), to the chamber 0. to the chamber (Z, to the chamber 6, to the chamber f, to the base-chamber These holes are, however, arranged, as shown in Fig. 2, at different angles, so that instead of any two of them being opposite each other they form a progressive series around the center. Therefore the oil descending through each hole has to make almost an entire circuit upon the plate below before reaching the next succeeding hole.

35 is the oil-inlet through the cover.

It will be observed that the structure so far described constitutes a stack of cold plates separated by thin chambers through which the oil is compelled to take a circuitous passage by reason of the offset position of the connectingholes through the plates from each other. The oil thus subjected in layers or laminae to the cold plates if left to the action of gravity alone would rapidly congeal upon the surfaces of the plates and clog up theapparatus. \Vhere fore the following ejecting or scraping mechanism is provided: A shaft having its top bearing in the boss 23 and its bottom bearing in the boss 26 contains a series of sections 37 38 39 4O 41, similar to that shown in detail in Fig. l, each of which sections passes through a hole provided at the center of one of the plates. Each of these sections consists of a socket portion A2 and a stud portion T3, the stud portion of one section being adapted to lit in the socket portion of the adjaentsection. 44. and are slots in the socket and stud portions, respectively, so positioned that the slot in the stud portion of one section registers with the slot of the socket portion of the adjacent section. A6 at? 4:8 4:9 51 52 are a series of blades carried by said shaft and rotated in the various chambers a, 7/, 0, (Z, a, f, and r/ adjacent to said cold plates. The blades 47, A8, A9, 50, and 51 extend through the slots 4% and A5 of adjacent shaft sections, and thus serve to lock the sections against turning on each other, so that the various sections are obliged to revolve as a unitary shaft. The top section 36 in lieu of the socket portion l2 extends upwardly through the hub 53 of blade 46 and through the bearing 24: to the beveled gear 52*, by which the shaft is driven. The spindle projection at the bottom of the shaft carries the hub 56 of the blade 52. The shaft is revolved in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2, and all the various blades are offset from each other to corre spond with the offset of the various holes. Therefore the oil descending through one hole-for example, 29--is shoved by the next succeeding blade for example, T- -almost the entire circuit of the next succeeding plate for example, 2-before it reaches the next succeeding hole-for example, 30. The various blades are set close to the top and bottom surfaces of the plates with which they cooperate, so as to substantially scrape therefrom the oil tending to congeal thereon and force it forward and into the hole therethrough. The holes preferably consist of slots approximately radiating from the center. The width of each succeeding slot is preferably greater than that preceding to com pensate in freedom of passage for the increasing stiffness of the oil as it becomes cooler. By the external location of the refrigerant connections 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 they are placed beyond the sweep of the blades. By the internal location of the oil connections, passages. or holes 29 3O 31 32 33 34 the refrigerated substance is kept constantly within the influence of the refrigerant and its passage through said connections is so short and direct as to prevent clogging.

The gear 54 is driven by the pinion 57 on the counter-shaft 58, driven by any suitable means, such as the pulley 59.

By having the main shaft in sections, as described, and having the series of frames 15 16, 17, 18, and 19, by which the refrigeratingplates are separated, secured to the plates in the manner shown the construction of the cooler is sectional, sothat it may readily be taken apart in case access to its interior becomes necessary.

In operation the oil is supplied through the hole 35 and is carried by gravity, assisted by the blades, through the various passages and discharged at the outlet 27, being in the meantime brought intimately in contact with the cold surfaces of the plates through which the brine or other refrigerant is constantly circulating. In this way with an apparatus of very moderate size and economical construction oil of, say, 30 gravity coming directly from the agitators can be reduced from a temperature of 120 Fahrenheit to, say, 20 Fahrenheit, at which latter temperature it is in condition for immediate filtration in the ordinary cloth filter-press, by which the wax is separated from the lubricating-oil. 1f desired, the passing of the oil through my cooler can be expedited by suction applied at the outlet 27 such as the suction which is produced by attaching a pump to the outlet 27, which pump may also deliver the oil to the filter-press.

The efficiency of my cooler is such that in the treatment of such oil as that above referred to only one filtration and one cooling action will be necessary, the construction of the cooler being such as to admit of cooling the oil as it comes from the agitators after distillation down to the temperature required for final filtration without clogging the cooler itself or requiring an abnormally large, expensive, or complicated cooling apparatus.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A cooler comprising, in combination, a series of closed cooling-compartments the top and bottom of which are composed of coolingplates, an injector operating in each compartment between said cooling-plates and passages whereby said compartments are connected through said cooling-plates, the passage in each plate being at a different angle from the passage in the other plates to form a progressive series of passages around the center of the cooler; said cooling-plates being hollow and provided with connections for the circulation of a cooling fluid through the series.

2. A cooler comprising, in combination, a central shaft, a series of ejector-blades radiating from said shaft, a series of closed cooling-compartments the top and bottom of which are composed of cooling-plates extending substantially from said shaft to the periphery of the cooler and between which said ejectorblades rotate and passages whereby said compartments are connected through said cooling-- plates, the passage in each plate being at a different angle from the passage in the other plates to form a progressive series of passages around the center of the cooler; said coolingplates being hollow and provided with connections for the circulation of a cooling fluid through the series.

3. A cooler comprising, in combination, a series of hollow cooling-plates, connections for the circulation of the cooling substance between said plates, a series of frames whereby said plates are separated, a series of passages through said plates and a series of ejectors operating within said frames to scrape the cooled substance from said plates into said passages, the passage in each plate being at a difierent angle from the passage in the other plates to form a progressive series of passages around the center of the cooler.

1. A cooler comprising, in combination, a series of hollow cooling-plates, a series of passages and a shaft extending through said series of plates, the passage in each plate being at a different angle from the passage in the other plates to form a progressive series of passages around the center of the cooler, a series of arms mounted upon said shaft to rotate between said plates, a series of ejector-blades mounted upon said shaft to rotate between said plates, a series of peripheral inclosurcs within which said ejector-blades rotate; said cooling-plates forming a series of sleeves around said shaft whereby the said ejectors may remove the congealed material from above and below the cooling-plates substantially all the way from said shaft to said peripheral inclosure.

IIO

plates being hollow and provided with connections for the circulation of a cooling fluid through the series.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

RICHARD THOMAS \Vitnesses:

\VALTER A. PAULING, GEORGE A. RonDnR. 

